VZCZCXYZ0003
OO RUEHWEB

DE RUEHC #2695 1892213
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
O 072218Z JUL 08
FM SECSTATE WASHDC
TO USMISSION USUN NEW YORK IMMEDIATE 0000

UNCLAS STATE 072695 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PREL KPKO UNGA UNSC
SUBJECT: CRIMINAL ACCOUNTABILITY OF UN OFFICIALS AND 
EXPERTS ON MISSION 
 
REF: A. [A] USUN 344 
     ¶B. [B] 07 STATE 157737 
 
¶1.  Action request:  USUN is requested to send a diplomatic 
note to the Secretary-General, in the appropriate format, 
using the text in paragraph 3, in response to the 
Secretary-General's note of December 31, 2007. 
 
¶2.  Background: General Assembly resolution 62/63 of December 
6, 2007 called on Member States to review their own domestic 
criminal laws and to cooperate with the UN and other Member 
States, including by sharing information on steps taken to 
investigate and prosecute crimes by their own citizens 
serving with UN operations and programs.  The resolution 
asked the Secretary-General to report to the next session of 
the GA on investigations and prosecutions.  The 
Secretary-General sent a note to all UN Missions on December 
31, 2007 requesting information on this issue. 
 
¶3.  The text that follows is keyed to operative paragraphs in 
GA resolution 62/63.  Begin text: 
 
Regarding operative paragraph 3: 
 
The United States has a broad array of statutes that can be 
used to prosecute U.S. nationals who commit crimes while 
working for the United Nations or when acting as an expert on 
mission, even when those crimes may be committed outside of 
the United States. For certain conduct, the United States has 
extraterritorial jurisdiction over U.S. citizens. Examples 
include a citizen who goes abroad and sexually abuses a child 
or engages a child for prostitution. Thus any U.S. citizen 
working for the UN who pays a child for an act of 
prostitution or has sex with a child too young to consent, or 
with a child of sufficient age difference under federal law, 
can be prosecuted in the United States for such offenses. 
 
The United States also has jurisdiction generally to 
prosecute any federal crime where even a minor part of the 
crime was committed in the United States, even when the bulk 
of the conduct was committed abroad. For example, a UN 
official or expert abroad who engaged in fraudulent 
activities will be subject to prosecution in the United 
States even if all he does is make a phone call to the U.S. 
in furtherance of his activities, or wire money to the United 
States if it is part of the criminal scheme. Similarly, 
regarding trafficking in persons, a person who &affects8 
commerce between the United States and a foreign state by 
engaging in trafficking in persons as defined by U.S. law can 
be prosecuted in the United States. This type of jurisdiction 
is particularly broad where a conspiracy of two or more 
people is involved, because an act by one conspirator in the 
United States can bring the entire conspiracy within U.S. 
jurisdiction. 
 
Also, under the Travel Act, any person who travels or uses a 
facility in foreign commerce (meaning between the U.S. and a 
foreign country) for the purpose of distributing the proceeds 
of unlawful activity or committing a crime of violence in 
furtherance of unlawful activity, or otherwise carrying on an 
unlawful activity can be prosecuted in the United States. For 
the purposes of this statute, &unlawful activity8 includes 
offenses related to gambling, narcotics, prostitution, 
extortion, bribery, arson or other racketeering activity. 
 
The United States also has jurisdiction over certain 
corruption related offenses even when most of the conduct 
takes place abroad. Bribery of a foreign official by a U.S. 
citizen to gain contracts is a crime prosecutable in the U.S. 
courts, even if the bribery occurs outside the United States. 
 
Regarding operative paragraph 4: 
 
The United States has numerous mechanisms for providing 
information and evidence to foreign partners for the 
investigation and prosecution of offenses committed by United 
Nations officials or experts while on mission. First, the 
courts of the United States, as a matter of discretion, may 
provide assistance to foreign states, including compelled 
testimony and document production, as well as other 
information in response to letters rogatory. Second, the 
United States has over 50 bilateral mutual legal assistance 
treaties that cover a wide array of serious crimes. Third, 
the United States is a party to numerous multilateral 
conventions that provide a legal basis for judicial 
assistance that may be relevant to the types of crimes that 
might be committed by UN officials or experts. For example, 
the United States is a party to both the UN Convention 
against Corruption and the UN Convention against 
Transnational Organized Crime and two of its protocols, the 
Migrant Smuggling and Trafficking in Persons protocols. The 
United States is also a party to the Inter-American 
Convention on Mutual Legal Assistance, the Inter-American 
Convention against Corruption, and the Council of Europe 
Convention on Cybercrime.  All of these multilateral 
conventions have legal assistance provisions that require 
cooperation in crimes covered by those conventions. Thus, a 
UN official who embezzles money, takes bribes, smuggles 
migrants, traffics in persons, commits a computer or child 
pornography crime, or is involved in any fraud involving 3 or 
more persons, is subject to having evidence gathered by the 
United States and provided to foreign governments for 
prosecution, assuming the foreign government is a party to 
the relevant multilateral treaty. 
 
The United States also has over 110 bilateral extradition 
treaties pursuant to which the United States can extradite 
offenders, including U.S. citizens, or request extradition. 
The multilateral treaties mentioned above have the effect of 
expanding the list of extraditable offenses, to include all 
of the corruption and organized crime offenses that UN 
officials or experts might commit, if the requesting state is 
also a party to the relevant convention and has a bilateral 
extradition treaty with the United States.  End text. 
RICE